


A Little Transparency

by mugsandpugs



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Can be gen or shippy, M/M, implied child abuse/neglect, they know each other so well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 19:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12175452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mugsandpugs/pseuds/mugsandpugs
Summary: Stanley knows who Richie is, underneath all the jokes and the voices.





	A Little Transparency

Stan is 1000% done with Richie's shit 1000% of the time but that's at least partially because he understands that the trashmouth persona is a coping mechanism. He knows Richie's parents don't give a damn about him. He knows Richie is point-blank terrified of being left behind or forgotten. Even as young as he is, he understands that Richie is so attention seeking because of how lonely he is. 

He's seen Riche in quieter moments. With his head bowed as he listens to the musical Hebrew of the Torah pouring off Stan's lips- a culture he's not part of, that he doesn't fully understand, but he appreciates the beauty of just the same. 

He notices as Richie is inevitably always the one to pull the Losers together. The first to offer hugs and hair-ruffles. The one most capable of swinging bats and chucking rocks- so long as it's for someone else's benefit. He is always hyperaware of his friend's state of physical and mental health, forever prepared to dive in and save them should he deem it necessary. There's no mistaking the worry that comes before the jokes. 

He sees how Richie gets at sleepovers when one by one, all the Losers club drift off until they're the only two left awake. Stan watches the way he tucks the blanket under Eddies chin, the way he moves Bill's hand back onto the bed so he doesn't get a cramp in his arm. When he feels Stan watching him he tries to play his tenderness off with a goofy smile, like he hasn't just been caught red-handed in an act of softness. 

Because he knows that with every smart remark Richie is convincing himself, "I wont be hurt when you decide to leave me." 

Because he knows that with every joke he beseeches for approval: "- But you wont leave me _just_ yet, will you?" 

Because Richie Tozier is, for all his claims of worldliness, a ridiculous thing with a heart that never quiet healed from its first real bruising. 

Stan rolls his eyes. Because he Knows what Richie is inside. Because he's done with his shit. He lifts the corner of his own blanket and glares pointedly at Richie until, looking bashful but happy, the other boy climbs in next to him and wriggles under his chin until he's comfortable and bird-boned and still, feeling Stan's heart beat onto his spine. 

Because Richie Knows what Stan really is underneath his disapproving scowls and scathing remarks. Because he sees who he really is, too. 


End file.
